City police to crack down on illegal autos

Bangalore was the first city in the country to implement the Singapore model of an Auto Driving Licence Display System. It was introduced to bring down harassment faced by commuters and to keep a track of auto drivers.

Bangalore was the first city in the country to implement the Singapore model of an Auto Driving Licence Display System. It was introduced to bring down harassment faced by commuters and to keep a track of auto drivers.
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Now, the autorickshaw driver unions in association with the city traffic police have planned a novel solution to keep a tab on thousands of illegal autos plying in the city.

Every auto driver will have to fill in a form with his biodata, and submit it along with other necessary documents to the traffic station of the area concerned.

Illegal autorickshaws will soon be made to go off city roads.

The police will later issue a number which will have to be painted on both sides of the autorickshaw. Only rickshaws displaying these numbers will be allowed to ply on city roads.

There are around 1.15 lakh autos plying on city roads, of which around 30,000 are plying illegally without licences and valid permits.

"All unions had a meeting on Wednesday and came to the conclusion to tackle this problem.

We have also discussed the matter with senior officers from the city traffic police, and have decided to filter illegal autos in the city," said M Manjunath, president, Adarsha Auto Union.
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"Along with the ID number, phone numbers of the police station concerned, union will be displayed so that it will be easy for the passengers to lodge a complaint.
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This system has been introduced in Mysore, Tumkur and Hassan where it's a success."

This system is likely to start in three months, and the drivers will have to get their autos registered with the police stations concerned and get their ID numbers in stipulated time.

A senior police officer said, "It is still at the discussion level."

"Rules and regulations are made easily but they should be properly monitored as well," M N Sreehari, a traffic expert, said.

Transport Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said, "If it is permissible in the Motor Vehicle Act, they can go ahead with the plan. Since I don't know the scheme, I can't comment on it."